I almost wish the religious fundamentalists were right. I almost wish there was a hell in which the evil burn for eternity.

The reason I (almost) wish this, of course, is because we have created a society where the evil face no retribution so long as they have money or political influence. A society where people like John Bowe and David Drumm can giggle, sing and sneer while they rip the heart out of the country. The most vulnerable people in Ireland are being subjected to a death by a thousand cuts. And yet the Agents of Mammon who brought us to this precipice simply jet off around the world to find the country with the most lax bankruptcy laws so that they may emerge from the disaster they created relatively unscathed.

Hell, many of them don’t even need to do that. John Bowe, head of capital markets at Anglo Irish Bank, was made a director of the IBRC. This is the man who can be heard laughing and singing Deutschland Uber Allies on the recently released Anglo Tapes. The man who can be clearly heard conspiring to defraud the Irish people of yet more money even after he’d helped sink the economy (or in the words of Simon Carswell in The Times, “[seeking] to hoodwink the State into getting [Anglo Irish Bank] a bigger bailout than it let on it needed”). Yet he’s one of the guys our government paid to deal with the mess.

And the politicians who appointed this man to help deal with the mess? They are no better. One Labour TD has resigned from the party in disgust as they inflict yet more pain on those least able to bear it. The rest of them should just apply to join Fine Gael and be done with the tasteless charade that they are somehow a party of the ordinary people. Just like Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the Irish Labour Party represents the rich and powerful. It is one leaf in our trinity of Bankers’ Parties.

The religious fundamentalists are wrong about the evil burning in hell. But I almost wish they were right. Because the vile excuses for human beings that inhabit the upper echelons of our political and financial institutions will never be held accountable for the damage they inflict on the rest of us. Bankers and politicians worked hand-in-glove-puppet to bleed Ireland dry. Then, when they’d done as much damage as they possibly could, they appointed one another to well-paid positions in the clean-up operation. And, as the Anglo Tapes reveal, this clean-up operation was simply viewed as yet another opportunity to unleash their bottomless greed.

I don’t know who our next government should be. But let me say this now, as loud and clear as I can… if at the next election, dear reader, you vote for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Irish Labour, then you are also complicit in the destruction of this country. There can be no more excuses. I only hope that none of them dare knock on my door when canvassing for votes, because frankly I’m at the final straw stage – and I could do without having to face an assault charge in the courts. Our politicians and bankers need to be replaced immediately. And most of them should be imprisoned for their complicity in the subversion of the Irish constitution.

6 responses to "Where’s Hell when you need it?"

What’s the current score with the Irish Greens? Did they repenteth of their sins the last time round, or were they so utterly ruined by their sins the last time round that they’re no longer even in contention?

John, The Greens have all but disappeared from the Irish political landscape. They were completely wiped out in the last election and don’t appear to have even begun the process of recovery. Ironically, while the Irish people appear willing to forgive Fianna Fáil for the destruction they wrought upon the nation, they don’t seem willing to forgive The Green Party (whose main crime was to stand next to Fianna Fáil while the destruction was happening).

I’m not saying we should forgive The Greens for what was a completely predictable fall from grace. But if we’re happy to welcome Fianna Fáil back into the mainstream… … …

I suspect I’ll be voting Hard Left next time round. Not because they have any chance of winning. And not because I think they’ll “save the country”. But simply because they are now the only group left in Irish politics who bear no direct responsibility for the mess we’re in.

I suspect there are different “we”-s here. Similar to why the UK LDs have lost half their support but kept half.

People who still voted FF in the previous election were signed up to the socially-right-ish economically-neolin agenda; people who were sceptical of the agenda had moved to the Greens and Labour. Hell, people who still voted FF in the previous election had forgiven them Haughey, and generally demonstrated a fairly ‘meh’ attitude to wholesale corruption.

So the revelation of unimaginable corruption and wickedness is going to be a fairly minor knock to FF, whose supporters already factor in at least medium levels of corruption and wickedness, whereas to the Greens, whose supporters factor in decency etc, it’s a bit fatal.

(the Lib Dems campaigned as two parties depending on their opponent: “a bit like the Tories but nicer to the gays and foreigns because not entirely made up of senescent bigots” and “a bit like Labour but with less war and more principles”. The last three years have eradicated the latter vote completely, but shored up the former vote if anything…)

You’re absolutely right of course, John. But it’s still very weird to see support for FF rebound while The Greens remain in the wilderness (given the reason they were sent to the wilderness in the first place).

It does make sense when you stop to think about it. But it’s still an odd thing to observe.

On the subject of The Greens, way back in 2007 – within a few months of them taking up their cabinet positions – I expressed concern that their only legacy would be to savagely undermine the environmental movement in Ireland. And that’s precisely what has happened.

Like skilled fifth columnists, they have alienated and disillusioned a large number of people who felt that change could be achieved through the ballot-box. And sadly, I suspect very few of them have taken to direct action. The Green Party did more damage to environmentalism in Ireland during their short stint in power than FF did in the preceding decade.

Actually, this is what the Irish Greens are up to now (I helped elect this guy as a TD in my local constituency). I can almost forgive him the collusion with Fianna Fáil… the unseemly eagerness with which he leapt into bed with scoundrels. But this is unforgivable…

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